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Risks Associated with Vaccines
By Lucija Tomljenovic, PhD
The use of aluminium adjuvants in vaccines and the current standard worldwide pediatric practices of
repetitively injecting mutiple vaccinations simultaneously have never been properly evaluated for safety by
the health regulatory authorities.
Aluminum adjuvants have been used in vaccines for more than 90 years. To date regulators have ’presumed’
the safety of aluminum adjuvants, as shown by the following statement made in 2005 by the World Health
Organization (WHO) Special Committee on the Safety of Vaccines: [1]
The Committee considered the safety of adjuvants used in vaccines. This hitherto neglected subject is
becoming increasingly important given modern advances in vaccine development and manufacture.
What should be obvious from the above is that the current presumed evidence of safety of aluminum
adjuvants has never been scientifically established as is widely thought. Instead, we have clear evidence of
negligence regarding this subject by the world’s highest heath authority.
In direct contrast to this assumption of safety, research from independent sources (i.e., not sponsored by the
vaccine manufacturers) shows evidence that aluminum in vaccine-relevant exposures can be toxic to humans
and animals. [2-12]
Popular assertions are that children obtain much more aluminum through regular diet than from routine
vaccination and therefore, vaccination does not represent a toxicological risk with respect to aluminum. [12, 13]
Although such opinions appear to be highly regarded, they contradict basic toxicological principles.
For example, it should be obvious that a route of exposure which bypasses the protective barriers of the
gastrointestinal tract and/or the skin will require a much lesser dose to produce a toxic outcome. [15] In the
case of aluminum, research clearly shows that only ~0.25 % of dietary aluminum is absorbed into systemic
circulation, [16] while aluminum from vaccines may be absorbed at nearly 100% efficiency. [17]
Macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF) is one of the post-vaccinal conditions that has been solidly linked to the longterm persistence of vaccine derived-aluminum adjuvants for up to 8-10 years following vaccination. [18] The
pathological significance of the MMF lesion has long been ill-understood because of the lack of an obvious link
between persistence of aluminum agglomerates in macrophages at sites of previous vaccinations and the
delayed onset of systemic and neurological manifestations.
However, recent experiments in animal models have revealed that injected nano-aluminum adjuvant
particles have a unique capacity to travel to distant organs including the spleen and the brain [7] and incite
deleterious immuno-inflammatory responses in neural tissues. [3, 4, 7-10] Moreover, the Trojan horse
mechanism by which aluminium enters the brain, results in a slow accumulation and is likely responsible for
cognitive impairments associated with administration of aluminium-containing vaccines. [5, 6]
The bio-accumulation of aluminium in the brain appears to occur at a very low rate under normal conditions,
thus potentially explaining the presumably good overall tolerance of this adjuvant despite its strong
neurotoxic potential.
Nonetheless, according to Khan et al. [7] continuously increasing doses of the poorly biodegradable
aluminium adjuvant may become insidiously unsafe, especially in cases of repetitive closely-spaced
vaccinations and an immature or altered blood brain barrier.
In this context, the latest research by Lujan et al., which described a severe neurodegenerative syndrome in
commercial sheep linked to the repetitive inoculation of aluminium-containing vaccines, is noteworthy.
In particular, the “sheep syndrome” is similar to some human diseases also linked to the effect of multiple
vaccinations. [19] The adverse chronic phase of this syndrome affects 50-70% of flocks and up to 100% of
animals within a flock. It is characterized by severe neurobehavioural outcomes (restlessness, generalized
weakness, muscle tremors, loss of response to stimuli, ataxia, tetraplegia, stupor, coma and death),
inflammatory lesions in the brain and the presence of aluminum in central nervous system tissues. [19]
These latter findings thus confirm the ones by Khan et al., [7] who demonstrated the ability of aluminium
adjuvants to penetrate the blood brain barrier. Furthermore, they illustrate that the resulting presence of
aluminium in the brain can trigger severe neurological damage.
By way of explanation, in 2008 a compulsory vaccination against bluetongue virus in sheep was implemented
across Europe. In Spain, most sheep were subcutaneously vaccinated against two different viral serotypes. The
vaccination protocol called for four doses of vaccines in about a month with an estimated total amount of 16
mg of aluminum per animal. Shortly after (2-6 days), an acute neurological reaction was observed in a low but
representative proportion of animals in a large number of vaccinated flocks across the whole country.
This “acute phase” was characterized by an array of sudden onset severe nervous clinical signs such as
lethargy, stupor, transient blindness, abnormal behavior and sometimes tremors at limbs and head and
seizures in the most severely affected cases. Most animals apparently recovered from this phase.
Between weeks and months later, an insidious and devastating wasting syndrome appeared in vaccinated
flocks whether they had been previously affected during the acute phase or not. This “chronic phase” was
characterized by generalized weakness, muscle tremors and weight loss leading to extreme cachexia
(weakness and wasting of the body) that could be followed by ataxia (loss of control of body movements),
quadraplegia and death. In certain geographical areas, spontaneous mortality in affected flocks increased a
mean of 16.5% (range: 0.8%-65%; 26).
The main lesions (regions in organs or tissues that have suffered damage) were severe meningoencephalitis
in the acute phase and muscular atrophy, fat depletion and neurodegeneration in the chronic phase.
Intensive investigations in this process were performed by many research groups and all known compatible
diseases of ovine were ruled out. Remarkably, the chronic phase of the syndrome had been seen before
compulsory vaccination against bluetongue virus by the authors in a small number of flocks.
The sheep syndrome was reproduced in three lambs from a flock that had no previous history of
vaccination. Over a period of 10 months, these animals were repetitively inoculated with aluminumcontaining vaccines not only against bluetongue virus but also against other important ovine pathogens. In the
whole experiment, the vaccinated lambs received a total amount 56 mg of aluminum divided into 14
inoculations. The clinical pictured observed was similar to the chronic phase in both the clinical and
pathological aspect. Aluminum was found in a larger amount in nervous tissue of vaccinated animals. [19] The
weight of sheep at time of these inoculations was 45 kg, meaning that each sheep received 1.24 mg of
aluminum/kg body weight.
In Western countries, a typical child may be injected with as much as 4.225 mg of elemental Al by the age of
12 months. [20] Our review of currently licensed vaccine package inserts in the United States is consistent with
this figure. For example, according to the standard U.S vaccination schedule, every vaccinated child receives a
total of 5–6 mg of Al by the age of 2 years, or up to 1.475 mg of Al during a single visit to the pediatrician. [21]
Given that vaccine-derived aluminum persists in the body and is absorbed at nearly 100% efficacy, this
would mean that a 10 kg weight 12 month old baby would have an aluminum adjuvant burden of 0.4225
mg/kg body weight which is approximately 3x less than the aluminum burden of the sheep reported in
Lujan et al.’s study. [21]
This observation should give everyone a pause to think because it shows that the amounts of aluminum
which produced the severe neurodegenerative ovine syndrome (which is clearly similar to some human
diseases linked to the effect of multiple vaccinations) are in a range that is nearly comparable to human
situation. In other words, Lujan’s sheep did not receive a “mammoth dose of aluminum” which would be
clinically irrelevant.
Similarly to Lujan et al., Our laboratory conducted detailed behavioural studies on new-born male and
female mice given an “equivalent” to high and low exposure to aluminum from vaccines (according to the
U.S. and Scandinavian vaccination schedules respectively). [10] The results showed that aluminum injections
in the neonatal period significantly increased anxiety-like behaviours and reduced exploratory activities in
mice when they were tested as adults approximately 4 months later. These adverse behavioural outcomes
were long-lasting and persisted throughout the two month period of testing. [10]
Our later examinations have shown that mice injected with aluminum in the equivalent to what children in
the U.S. receive via vaccinations have altered expression of certain genes in the brain. Namely, proinflammatory genes were up-regulated, while a key neurotransmitter acethyl-cholinesterase (AChE) was
down-regulated. Male mice were more affected. Just as males are more affected with autism. Note that AChE
has an anti-depression/anxiety effect. Low AChE activity is associated with deficits in neurodevelopment. [22]
Aluminum salts are the most widely used adjuvants in current use. The fact that they can trigger
pathological immunological responses and a cascade of adverse health effects is now well documented,
albeit still not widely recognized in the medical community.
The administration of continuously escalating doses of this poorly biodegradable adjuvant in the population
should be far more carefully evaluated by regulatory agencies and the pharmaceutical industry than what has
been the practice to date.
It is likely that individual’s tolerance to aluminium may be compromised by a variety of factors including
over-vaccination, blood-brain barrier immaturity, individual susceptibility factors (i.e., previous personal or
familial history of autoimmune diseases), and aging that may be associated with both subtle blood-brain
barrier alterations.
It is also likely that an increasing number of individuals, regardless of their genetic background, will react
adversely if exposures to compounds with immune adjuvant properties exceed a certain threshold.
This concept has in fact been clearly demonstrated by Tsumiyama et al. [23] who in 2009 showed that repeated
immunization with antigen causes systemic autoimmunity in mice otherwise not prone to spontaneous
autoimmune diseases.
Additional risks
It is true that people are exposed constantly to infectious agents in the environment. However, there is a vast
difference between natural exposure and that induced by vaccinations. The reason for this is that the immune
response induced by vaccination is greatly amplified, owing to the addition of adjuvants with immunestimulating properties.
This notion is further supported by the fact that vaccination produces a much higher and sustained level of
antibodies compared to natural infection.
For instance, Gardasil HPV vaccination induces a 40-fold increase in anti-HPV antibodies compared with the
physiological antibody level triggered by a natural HPV infection. [24] The antibody titre against the HPV-16 and
18 may remain 11 times higher than those induced by a natural infection 5.5 years after vaccination. [25]
Similarly, CervarixTM has induced sustained antibody titres for HPV-18 more than 4-fold higher than natural
infection titers at 8.4 years after initial vaccination with 100% seropositivity maintained. [26]
It should also be noted that vaccinations are carried out almost exclusively for preventative measures and in
the absence of an actual infection.
In such a scenario, the vaccine-induced antibodies are more likely to preferentially bind to host antigens
with which they share structural similarity. This phenomenon is well known under the term “molecular
mimicry” and it has been clearly proven in the case of the antiphosholipid syndrome and the tetanus
vaccine. [27, 28]
Any government representative, health authority or media representative should become well aware of the
risks prior to recommending and/or supporting a one-size-fits-all vaccination program.
Penicillin is not safe for everyone – how can one consider vaccines would be?
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World Health Organization (WHO). Weekly and epidemiological record. 7 Jan 2005,
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